Summary Of You Decide: Walmart

You Decide: Wal-Mart
Cultural differences are the core of international operations. These differences are identified through purchasing preferences and shopping trends, which provide opportunities for international expansion of hypermarkets. Hypermarkets must consider the cultural differences from domestic operations and conform to these differences by offering products consumers are currently purchasing from local retailers. This will provide a competitive advantage for the hypermarket, resulting in increasing brand awareness.
Hypermarkets, or “a retail store that combines a department store and a grocery store” according to Investopedia (2015), are successful in countries where people have limited time to shop and desire lower prices. Countries less likely to approve of hypermarkets see correlation between price and quality. Some cultures are more interested in ‘open markets’, which is not how hypermarkets operate. In these countries the advantage remains with local retailers who cater to the likes of residents.
Wal-Mart operates under the intention of providing customers with products at a lower cost than competitors, as well as customizing the available products for the culture of the region, a competitive advantage. For example, a Wal-Mart in Chicago is not going to sell products consumers in Florida are interested in, and winter coats, for example, are not going to be sold in Florida. Carrefour (n.d.) boasts “A broad product offering with everyday low prices” on their website, offering a competitive advantage of lower prices. Carrefour has also customized product availability for the culture of the region, resulting in additional competitive